SIRC Media Watch Archive
Scares and Miracles – December 2001

Oscars 'bad for health'. Oscar-winning screenwriters have shorter lives than losing nominees, even though greater success is usually linked to better health, a study [published in the BMJ] shows. BBC

Why fireworks could seriously damage your hearing. Professor Deepak Prasher, an audiologist at University College, London, says the noise generated by fireworks is a neglected health risk. It reaches officially deafening levels and for people with sensitive hearing the damage can be permanent. Yorkshire Post.

Workaholic Wives and Their Sick Husbands. Husbands, beware: Your wife's job may be dangerous to your health. At least that's one way to interpret the results of a new study by University of Chicago sociologist Ross Stolzenberg. He found that the husbands of women who worked more than 40 hours a week were significantly less healthy than other married men. At the same time, his research showed that long hours at work by husbands had no harmful effect on the health of their wives, employed or not. Washington Post.